Awer Mabil

Professional soccer player and co-founder, Barefoot to Boots

2023 Young Australian of the Year

Socceroo Awer Mabil is co-founder of the not-for-profit organisation Barefoot to Boots, which aims for better health, education, policies and gender equality for refugees. 

His own unique way of celebrating a goal is a message to those struggling with their mental health: you are not alone and you can speak up. 

The winger knows something about trying times. Awer grew up in a Kenyan refugee camp after his family fled civil war in Sudan, before coming to Australia at 10. Only a year after reaching his dream to play for the Socceroos, his sister died in a car accident in 2019. 

Awer now feels unbreakable. It is his experience of hard times, the memory of his sister and the knowledge that young people see him as a role model that drives him to perform. It’s what he does that Awer wants to be known for – not his background.